Cookie Johnson Shares First Reactions to Magic’s HIV Status

Magic Johnson’s wife, Cookie Johnson, was honored this past Wednesday (February 20) at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation dinner in New York City. EGPAF is a non-profit organization that “seeks to prevent pediatric HIV infection and to eradicate pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs.”

Mrs. Johnson currently sits as a board member on the Magic Johnson Foundation, and was awarded for her “tireless work in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” reports NewsOne

. During the dinner, Cookie stood up and shared her initial reactions of fear and anguish when learning of her husband’s positive HIV status.

“The scariest part for me was not knowing if I had

it,” she said at the awards dinner. “Then, that week I found out I was pregnant, so I didn’t know if my baby had it . . . back then you had to wait at least 10 days to find out what your test results were, so that was traumatic.”

After realizing that she and her son were negative for the fatal virus, Cookie said, “I still had to worry about my husband.”